


Skinny Love

by laurenelizabxth



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Eating Disorder, M/M, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2015-07-01
Packaged: 2018-04-06 15:19:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4226859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurenelizabxth/pseuds/laurenelizabxth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bard spends every waking moment worrying about what goes into his body and counting every last calorie. Thranduil works at American Eagle. A run-in on the street leads to a flannel being bought. Numbers are exchanged and lives are changed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Crash into me

Don't you dare

The voice screamed at me. The apple sitting in front of me looked delicious, perfectly round with a nice bright red skin. But instead of eating it, I tossed it into the trash and went into my room. Standing in front of the mirror and looking myself over.

What anyone else sees is a tall, dark haired twenty-four year old, whose shirt hangs loosely off his bony shoulders and jeans that hug his twig like legs, emphasizing the gap between them. His hollow cheeks and dark bags under his eyes aged him by at least ten years. And his shoulder length, wavy dark hair looked brittle and thin. His what once was tanned skin was paling and unhealthy.

But what I see in the wretched glass is fat. Fat. And more fat. My legs could be skinnier, my waist slimmer, and collarbones more protruding.

I sighed and went into the bathroom, removed my clothes and stepped onto the scale.

100.0lbs

I smiled weakly to myself at the improvement. Five more pounds until my goal. But then again, that's what I said when I hit 130lbs. I brushed out those thoughts and went to get changed for work. I work at Hot Topic in the mall. I open my closet to pick an outfit.

I decide on my typical black skinny jeans because they're slimming, and a Nirvanna t-shirt. I pull on my wristbands- Fall Out Boy, We Came As Romans and Black Veil Brides, to be accurate. Then I head out to work. I live close so I walk every day, mostly for the exercise.

With only ten minutes left of my walk I start to feel dizzy. I ignore it and keep walking, I can see the mall from where I am. I was focusing too hard on not passing out that I didn't observe my surroundings and before I knew it someone crashed into me from behind, knocking me to the ground. 

"I am so sorry!" A deep voice said. I look up from the ground at a tall man with porcelain white skin, and silver blonde hair down to his waist. He has light wash jeans that hug his lean legs beautifully and a red and white flannel buttoned up his torso. He was absolutely beautiful.

"Uh- it's um, it's okay." I mumbled as I gathered myself. He instantly offered me his hand, which I took carefully, and hoisted me to my feet.

"Are you alright?" He asked with a worried look. I straightened out my shirt and ran a hand through my hair.

"Yeah fine. Thank you." I said and turned on my heel to walk away. I thought I heard him say something but I was already too far away to know for sure. 

When I got to work, my wasn't as dizzy as before. My co workers, Tauriel and Fili were already there, and Filis brother Kili who has a huge crush on Tauriel was hanging around the store.

"Hey Bard." She greeted me, brushing her long red hair from her face. I gave her a nod before clocking in. She looked over me with worried eyes, apparently she thought I was too skinny. I just laughed and told her it's impossible to be too skinny the last time she brought it up with me.

My day was spent folding shirts, ringing people up and re stacking the stickers at least seven times. By the time my shift was over my stomach was growling and my head was fuzzy. I quickly clocked out and bid my friends goodbye.

Walking through the mall I looked into store windows. When I passed by American Eagle, I saw something I didn't expect. The guy who ran into me earlier was working there, helping someone choose jeans it looked like. I paused, he really was beautiful. His face was angular, he has icy blue eyes and thick, dark eyebrows that somehow compliment his eyes perfectly.

Without realizing it, I found myself walking into the store and poking at some shorts.

"Can I help you?" The familiar voice said from behind me. I turned nervously.

"Um yeah I was just-umm...looking for a uh, a flannel." I said stupidly. He looked at me for a few seconds.

"Are you the guy I ran into on the street today?" He blurted out. I looked at my combat boots and nudged an invisible rock or something.

"Um, yeah." I shrugged.

"I'm so sorry about that again. I was in such a rush." He smiled when I looked up at him.

"It's fine." I weakly smiled back. There was silence for a moment.

"So, flannel?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"They're over here. I'll show you." He gestured for me to follow him to the wall of the store. Surely enough, there were dozens of different colors flannel shirts hanging up there.

"You're probably an extra small in these." He muttered as he pulled a few off the racks and handed me a grey and black one with a little bit of light blue in it. "Try this." He told me. I nodded and took it from him, ignoring the flutter in my gut when our fingertips brushed. I slipped into the warm shirt as he looked over.

"Good. That one brings out your eyes nicely." He said. Blushing a bit after he realized what he had just said.

"Thanks. I like this one." I said as I looked into the mirror. The shirt hanging open made me look a little smaller too, like it was swallowing my body maybe. "I think I'll get it. Thank you." I said as I shrugged it off. He smiled brightly,

"You're very welcome." He looked like he was going to say more but his walkie talkie thing started beeping. "Have a great day." Was what he said before walking away.

I walked over to the register to check out.

"Did anyone help you find something today?" The blonde haired girl with a name tag that read 'Galadriel' asked.

"Um I didn't get his name, but he has long hair and thick eyebrows." I said awkwardly. She giggled a bit,

"That's Thranduil." She said before ringing up the shirt.

After leaving the store, there was only one word rolling around in my mind.

Thranduil


	2. Lunch for two

I walked into my empty apartment and dumped the AE bag on the kitchen counter. I poured a glass of water and grabbed a handful of almonds for dinner. Plopping down on the couch I flipped the television on and scrolled through channels. I bit into my first almond, chewed carefully and swallowed. The same process was repeated with all six almonds with small sips of water between bites.

After eating I stayed on the couch, feeling too tired to do anything else. My stomach rumbled with hunger as I tried to ignore how hungry I was. But the roaring wouldn't stop so I decided to take a shower to distract myself. Shuffling into the bathroom I turn the hot water on and removed my shirt and jeans.

I stood in my boxers and stared at the mirror. The rolls of fat on my stomach were disgusting and my thighs look like I could crush a watermelon between them.

Feeling tears burning in my eyes I turned away and took my boxers off before stepping into the warm water. I wet my hair and ran my hands through it, when I pulled them away there were more strands than usual that came out on my hands. I shrugged and breathed deeply to let the steam and hot air calm my mind.

\--

I woke up early the next morning to work out. I hopped out of bed and instantly got on the floor. I started with one hundred sit ups, then twenty push ups, and another two hundred crunches. By the time I was done my heart was pounding and my head felt fuzzy as sweat dripped down my neck. I walked to the kitchen and got a glass of water and let the cold liquid flow down my dry throat. I walked around my otherwise empty apartment while I cooled down before getting a quick shower to rinse the sweat off.

I opened my closet to choose an outfit for work. I ended up wearing navy skinny jeans, a Of Mice & Mean shirt, and black Vans. I stared at the flannel I bought yesterday and hesitated for a moment before pulling it over my t-shirt and leaving it unbuttoned. I grabbed my things and left for work per usual.

The whole walk to work I couldn't help but secretly hope I would run into Thranduil again. My eyes kept searching the streets for that distinctive blonde hair among the throngs of people. There was just something about him, his smile, the way he talks, the little wrinkles in the corners of his eyes when he smiles.

Bard, come on you don't have a chance with him. A guy like him would never go for a fat ass like yourself

You're right, I said to the voice in my head as I entered the mall. As I walked past American Eagle, I couldn't help but slow down and look through the large window. I caught a glimpse of him, he was folding some t shirts and laying them by color on a display. His strong hands smoothed the fabric and made neat piles.

I came out of my trance with a shake and started towards work. I fumbled through the morning,my head constantly thinking about Thranduil. I managed to put the new Avengers shirts on the Supernatural display without realizing it. Then I put the TARDIS' on the Funko shelf and basically made a huge mess of everything that Fili got mad about when he had to fix it all.

At lunch break I went to the cafeteria and bought a small salad from one of the stores. I was absolutely starving from my workout this morning and decided I could have a little bit of lunch. As I sat and munched on a piece of the lettuce someone came up behind me.

"Do you mind if I sit here? There's absolutely nowhere else to sit in this place." a familiar voice asked. I turned to see Thranduil smiling down at me.

"Um, yeah sure go for it." I said and he plunked down in a chair with a large sand which from the Subway across the room.

"Hey you bought a shirt yesterday right? Same guy I crashed into also?" He asked with a laugh.

"Yeah that's me. I'm Bard by the way." I said with a weak smile.

"Thranduil, pleasure." He grinned before biting into his food. "So do you work here somewhere? Or just like coming to the mall?" He laughed. I gave a pitiful laugh as well

"No, I work at Hot Topic actually." I said cautiously. He nodded as he swallowed his food. I glanced at the wad of meat and vegetables shoved between two pieces of carbs and calories.

"That's really cool. You have the right look for it." He told me. I was silent for a few seconds

"Uh thanks I guess. It was the only job I could land and it helps that I like music and Pop culture." I was getting a little more confident.

"What's your favorite band?" He asked.

"Well I like a lot of them. But if I had to pick favorites I would say either Mayday Parade or Fall Out Boy." I said.

"I love Mayday Parade actually!" He said with a beautiful smile.

"No kidding?" I laughed lightly.

"Really! I liked them better before Jason left though." He pointed out. I nodded thoughtfully

"I agree completely. Although, the new album is true art." I said.

"This is true. This is true." He laughed and I joined him.

"I honestly didn't peg you as a fan of Mayday." I said with a smirk. He chuckled,

"Well, I am full of surprises." He said with a wink.

"Is that a promise or a threat?" I asked, not realizing how flirty I was sounding.

"I'll let you figure that out." He smirked yet again. I was silent for a moment while he chewed on his sand which. Then he looked at the salad I had taken three bites from. "Are you gonna eat?" He asked. I looked down at the bowl of disgusting food with a scowl.

"Um no, I had a massive breakfast so I'm not even hungry. I don't even know why I got this honestly." I lied. He nodded thoughtfully.

"I don't mean to be forward but, can I get your number?" He asked suddenly. I stared at him in shock for longer than should be acceptable before answering.

"Uh, y-yeah sure." I handed him my phone and he gave me his. I quickly typed mine in and handed it back. I looked at my screen and saw his contact name was

Thranduil ;)

Which made my stomach flutter and my chest tight.

"I have to go back to work now. I'll see you around though. Oh, and nice flannel." He said with a wink and walked away. I watched him dump his trash and walk away. I was falling fast and hard and I know I shouldn't be.


End file.
